During the meeting, Jakub Kubacki, deputy Chief Veterinary Officer, briefly discussed the introduction of the vaccination program in France.
– The French had no choice but to vaccinate their flocks, otherwise they would have had to kill all the poultry kept in the southwestern part of the country. Therefore, a vaccination program was developed, which, interestingly, was developed bottom-up in cooperation with breeders and the meat industry. The state budget covered 85 percent. costs, the remaining funds came from meat plants and breeders. The effect of the program was impressive, because after its implementation last year, only 10 influenza outbreaks were detected, and only 2-3 concerned vaccinated herds – concluded Jakub Kubacki.
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Will Poland follow France's lead?
As the GLW deputy said, however, the implementation of vaccinations is not an ideal solution. In France, it worked well because it was implemented in a population of slaughter ducks whose meat was intended for internal consumption. This specificity is completely different than that of the Polish sector.
– In our country, poultry production is based mainly on fattening broiler chickens. The breeding cycle lasts on average 42 days. The first dose of the vaccine is administered on the 21st day of life, and the second dose seven days later. By the time of slaughter, animals will not even have time to develop full immunity. Another issue is that our production is largely based on exports, and third countries do not accept food from vaccinated animals, said Jakub Kubacki during the meeting.
He added that we should also consider whether it makes sense to implement a vaccination program for approximately 2,000 people in our country. flocks of ducks, which constitute a marginal percentage of HPAI outbreaks to date.
Breeders have drawn conclusions
The Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer also referred to the epizootic situation in the regions with the highest concentration of poultry production:
– Production density does not always translate into the number of outbreaks. It is known that in regions such as northern Mazovia, Warmia or Greater Poland, the risk will be greater – this is due to the large number of herds. However, breeders have learned the lesson from previous years and the biosecurity of farms is at an increasingly higher level. Please note that the share of commercial herds in the pool of influenza outbreaks is decreasing, while the number of cases in backyard herds is increasing, whose owners are often not even aware of biosecurity requirements. Unfortunately, each infected flock of more than 50 poultry is treated as an outbreak, and its size does not matter – concluded Jakub Kubacki.
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Wild boars are an increasing problem in urban areas. Culling is often impossible
